Manuski means humanism in Marathi. A term used by Dr B.R.Ambedkar, a great humanist of India. This blog want stimulating debate without any prejudices of caste, religion and nationalism. It is about humanism and human rights. All freethinkers are welcome to contribute and participate in stimulating debates.

Friday, May 06, 2016

S.Chandramohan : Poet of the 21st century Ambekarite era

By Vidya
Bhushan Rawat

Sathyanathan Chandramohan’s poetry reflects the brilliance of his thought process and the
rebel inside him. The seer diversity and variety of issues that he has taken up
shows his concern for human values that transcends the boundaries of nation
state, caste, class, gender and religion. In true sense only a humanist could
do so.

I had
the privilege of close association with legendary Mulk Raj Anand, whose first
novel ‘Untouchable’ with an introduction from E M Forster created ripples
internationally and exposed the hidden caste hatred including the issue of
manual scavenging prevalent in our society, even when I was just a village boy
from Uttarakhand as he would pronounce, where I was fortunate to have met many
laureate of Indian writings who took up the issue of the marginalized but very
few coming from the communities. During the Mandal’s war in 1990, we saw
English language media was used as a tool to spread hatred against the Dalits
and marginalized. They were mocked and there were absolutely negligible numbers
of writers who could pose a counter cultural question to the brahmanically
corrupted intellectual elite which looked secular in their mask yet
uncomfortable to the core question of social justice but in the Mandal two, we
saw the Dalit OBC students were writing their own blogs, had learnt to use
social media strongly and numerous websites and journals emerged to counter the
‘merit’ propaganda unleashed by the ‘devotees’ of corporate culture in India
who never ever saw ‘wrong’ in the corrupt practices by these in educational institutions
in the name of ‘donation’.

In the
following ten years after Mandal, we saw counter narratives taking bigger
shapes. Alternative media grew with web portals like “countercurrents.org”
providing space to the forces struggling against all forms of exploitation
including brahmanical cultural subjugation and capitalist onslaught on
socialism and state’s accountability. Magazines like ‘Forward Press’ energized
debates on Bahujan literature and enlightened us with stunning Bahujan cultural
discourse with number of emerging young writers. With growing new young writers
challenging the popular brahmanical discourse the contempt and assault on them
is also visible throughout the country. But, the Rohith Vemulas in our
universities have refused to play Eklavya today and therefore consciously
proving that Ambedkarism and legacy of Dalit Bahujan consciousness, which
refused to be part of brahmanical structure has finally arrived.

‘Forward
Press’ initiated this debate as what is Bahujan literature and last few years
they have brought wonderful collectors editions. There are various definitions
for literature. One, which raises your consciousness while for many, it must
come from those who suffer and are historically exploited, neglected and
subjugated socially and culturally. True, those who suffer will definitely
provide a different insight than those who sympathise with their cause and are
standing with them yet both are necessary. For me the Dalit Bahujan literature
can not just be autobiographical sketches as each one of us has a different
narratives but also posing ideological questions that have emerged from the
heroic work of Phule Ambedkar and Periyar apart from the great humanist legacy
of Raidas, Kabir, Nanak, Tukaram, Namdev, Ayyankali, Ayothidas, Narayan guru
and many others who not just fought against injustice but provided a much
better and humane alternative to brahmanical caste based ‘graded inequality’ as
described by Baba Saheb Ambedkar where dominant castes have always suppressed
the others. We must desist from compartmentalization and regimentation of
diverse Dalit Bahujan’s thoughts, which are multicultural and multi lingual. If
we try to create a monolith of it, the beauty of it would be lost. Hence it is
important to have narratives of diverse communities who built our society. A
Dalit narrative can not be just urbanized ‘educated’ construct but also the
story of a Dom in Varanasi’s ghats or Mushahars fighting for their battle or
Nats, Kalandars, Kushwahas, Rajbhars, Kols, Tharus, Balmikis (and they too have
diversity among themselves), Kanjars, Sansis, Banzaras, and so many others who
are not known in popular discourse and are out of bound from the ‘writers
circle’. The Dalit Bahujan popular discourse must challenge the ‘meritorious’
brahmanical discourse from an alternative path and not through becoming part of
that discourse which attempt to create a monolith of everything under
artificial construct of ‘Hinduism’ simply because they have similarities in
certain things. As research have shown there were over 300 versions of
Ramayanas and each different than the popular one of Tulsi Das’s ‘Ram Charit
Manas’ which imposed a patriarchal Rama on all other version and was further
popularized by Ramanand Sagar’s magnum opus Ramayana on Doordarshan. The
counter narratives of the Dalit Bahujan discourse are as diverse as Ramayana or
Mahabharata. There are thoughts influenced by Ambedkar-Periyar’s ideological
construct, which demolish the brahmanical myths woven around negative and
pathological characteristics of Asuras or Rakshasas and talked of a modern
secular society based on rational humanist principles of French or Russian
revolutions.But one has to understand
that it was not merely ideological constructs of the legends that shape
Bahujan-Dalit literature as various communities celebrate different festivals
in diverse ways. So, every festival in India has a counter perspective but the
brahmanical mainstream in India actually suppressed these narratives and placed
the upper caste brahmanical narrative as the sole identity of cultural India.

As I
mentioned young dynamic youths of the Dalit Bahujan communities are challenging
the brahmanical hegemonic narratives today. Not only are they getting empowered
by the strong thoughts of Dr Ambedkar, Phule and Periyar but are taking
inspirations from their friends too who have been supporting and participating
in the global resistance movement against culture of monopoly and private
control over the public resources. Chandra Mohan represent a well defined modern
poet who want to stand with all forms of discrimination and has got a language
which many will definitely envy. Moreover, Chandra Mohan’s brilliance in poetry
has surpassed any one that I have come across so far in terms of variety of
issues that he takes up. He has not just spoken against caste violence and
untouchability but subject likes gay rights, Soni Sori, Irom Sharmila,
Mujaffarnagar, unfair globalization have come under his scrutiny resulting some
of the finest poetry of our time that touch the inner chord of your heart.

The
whole country shouted loud for Nirbhaya and the ‘establishment’ responded with
a ‘Nirbhaya Act’ but news of rape and murder of Dalit or tribal girls do not
prick our conscience. There is no protest; no dharanas for the safety and
security of the Aadivasi girls are victim of highhandedness of our security
agencies in Bastar. His poem, ‘ Rape of a tribal girl’ exposes the duplicity of
our sensitivities and the farce that our ‘intellectuals’ and ‘media’ play.

‘No newspaper carried a headline or a photo
feature,

No youth were roused to protests,

No city’s life came to a standstill,

No furore in the parliament,

No nation’s conscience was haunted,

No Prime Minister addressed the nation,

No TV channel discussions,

No police officials were transferred or
suspended,

No candlelight marches,

No billion women rising,

A tribal girl was raped and murdered!’

The pain of migration result in loss of identity and
a majority of those migrate to cities are Dalit Bahujans like the blacks of
Africa. One has to just feel howChandra
Mohan explain it beautifully in his poem, ‘ Black Migratory’

‘Birds Migratory birds

most of them have dark feathers

sing mostly Bhojpuri, Bengali, Odiya

fly towards floating
clouds

lives lost in transit’.

Chandra Mohan is not short of words. He possesses an
extraordinary quality of weaving his narratives and ideas in shortest yet
impressive ways. As a poet his worldview is as wider as possible and modern in
the absolute term of Ambedkar’s vision of enlightened India and therefore he
questions the traditions and wrongs happening in the name of traditions. We
need to counter the brahmanical narrative through questioning them and demolish
the myths woven around them. Therefore, issues of Khap Panchayats and killings
of innocent lovers in the name of traditions and morality come under sharp
attack in his verses.

‘Moral Police ‘

when lover couple

hid in a hood of a tree

they chanced upon
love letters

some of them half
burned

some of them centuries old

along with a picture
of Shoorpanaka

sans her nose, ears and breasts!

Capitalism and religious fanaticism or theocracy work
together and compliment each others. In India capitalism has come handy for
Brahmanism to push its agenda to suck our resources and subjugate the Dalit
Bahujan-aadivasis further and that comes for an excellent narrative in his
poetry, ‘A Neo-liberal Miscarriage’

‘Every drill driven
into the earth

for oil punctures

holes into her womb

gangrenes of depletion

mushrooming clouds of subatomic fury

a miscarriage of neo-liberal development’

Chandra Mohan has rightly termed Dalit literature as the
literature of resistance and biggest movement world over and he is placing both
Dalit-Bahujan literature together. Today, the Bahujans too are questioning the
history and historical wrongs.It is
important for them to write their own history as beautifully mentioned by him
in the interview, ‘

As the African proverb goes ‘, Until the lions have their
own historians, the story of the hunt will glorify the hunter’, Dalit
literature is the documentation of the resistance of Dalit Bahujans against
Brahmanical Social Order. It is one of the world’s oldest resistance movements.
Dalit literature aims to complement the larger civil rights struggle of Dalit
Bahujans the world over and I believe we are at the cusp of a big change. Our
voices are beginning to be heard.

His poem ‘ History’ speak of that thinking that every
historical ‘document’ of the brahmanical construct need to be questioned and
rewritten by the Dalit Bahujan historians.

‘

What is history?

Its a declamation

delivered on a podium

on a pedestal that
rusts away

My poems are steel
arrows

that pierce the podium from below’

Ambedkarite scholar Rohith Vemula’s institutional murder
agitated all the right thinking persons in India particularly those hailing
from Dalit Bahujan communities. The incident actually exposed the brahmanical
structure inside our campuses and how those who questions and want to live an
independent life, live with their own understanding face obstacles at ever
level. Chandra Mohan deserve fullest applauds for this wonderful narration of
students suicides inside our campuses in his poem, ‘ Killing the Shambookas’.

‘Jim Crow segregated
hostel rooms,

Ceiling fans bear a
strange fruit,

Blood on books and
blood on papers,

A black body swinging
in mute silence,

Strange fruit hanging
from tridents’

As Bahujan magazines such as ‘Forward
Press’ find it difficult to sustain in the absence of solid financial and
advertisement backing, the movement it has launched for a counter Bahujan
perspective will continue in the greater interest of society. Chandra Mohan reflect
the coming of the Ambedkarite age of articulate young Indians who will not only
throw open challenge to the brahmanical literature and their falsified
constructs but will go far ahead of them in terms of quality and sincerity of
the issue. One of my dear Ambedkarite friends late N.G.Uke had a favorite quote
about the quality of an Ambedkarite, ‘ We have to be better than ‘their’
(brahmanical’s) best’. I think this age has finally arrived with the remarkable
verses of Chandra Mohan which will not just questions the wrong done to them or
to any one else but also participate in all the international movement for
human rights, human values, social justice and equality. The modern Dalit
Bahujan literature need not just be ‘reactionary’ but provide alternatives of a
better world and respond to the crisis of our time and Chandra Mohan’s verses
are doing that impressively. There is pain for closure of ‘Forward Press’ which
gave new ideas to Bahujan literature and empowered young Bahujan talents into
writing and resisting the popular brahmanical myths yet there is happiness when
we see hundreds of youngsters coming up, challenging and resisting at all the
levels including social media. And this will keep the movement growing as the
whole Dalit Bahujan age has arrived as the new young are taking up social media
and firing through their blogs, alternative platforms and it is they who will
continue to carry the torch of resistance and revolution. It is here the
success of the movement. We hope these young minds will continue to
revolutionise the web-world and more importantly bring voices from diverse
communities, hitherto unknown to us and keep the flame of change going. Chandra
Mohan’s poetry reflects that positive change among the youths of Dalit Bahujan
communities which is definitely a great hope for future.

Followers

About Me

Learning through working. Working at the grassroots made me realise the big difference between those who claim to represent communities as well as the communities themselves. Common man is crushed between the ambitions of various individuals to lead and dominate. The dominant and high numbered communities will always dominate our discourse and the most marginalised are losing in this entire discourse. That is the reason why Mushahar remain at the marginalised and the issue of manual scavenging still not on our top agenda and to eliminate that the community has to decide its own organisations..

I am devoted to freedom of ideas and expression. I personally feel that we in the subcontinent want to dominate and control our discourse and each one of is a ultra nationalist in terms of their caste and community. Nationalism is not just national and political but it is equally in term of religion and caste. I feel each kind of nationalism is a dominant discourse which deny the dissenter a right to speak.

At the end, we all want to listen the truth suitable to us.. we have become expertised in the art of speaking truth of convenience. As long as that remain hall mark of our society and we speak to already converts, this society will remain stagnant, it will always try to control our ideas and choices. We need to oppose any such perception, ideas that want to control our mind and victimise us.

To understand India further, I feel, it is good to do foot walk, ( Padyatras) to various parts of the country. I have so far done it thrice covering nearly 1500-2000 kilometers. It is always interesting to see how people are coping their issues and what is the reason of their exploitation.